Gandhians - On the Verge of Extinction?

@ashjoe76 (1422)
India
January 30, 2007 3:06pm CST
There was a time I came across many Gandhians, who followed Gandhi's footsteps in whatever way possible. But now, Gandhians are mocked by others as pretenstious people. What could be the reason? The changing values, or the way these people have failed to understand Gandhi properly?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@rosie_123 (6113)
31 Jan 07
Well sadly I don't know enough in-depth about Gandhi to be able to answer this question. I guess the world is moving and changing so fast every day that people of the younger generation don't have so much time or interest to study things that have happened before their time. They are always living in the present or looking to the future - not dwelling in the past. Somehow I think that is sad.
1 person likes this
@abhiquest (579)
• India
26 Feb 07
Gandhi's social teachings, inspired, in part, by the New Testament, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy and John Ruskin, werepraised by such important figures as Albert Einstein as being the answer to the social ills of war, class and race-based discrimination. A devoted Hindu and pacifist, Gandhi operated by undamental principles like love, honour and respect. He believed that all life was a part of one ultimate spiritual reality, with the supreme goal being self-realization. He believed that fighting injustice required one to love fellow human beings, and because of this, righting the wrongs of others could only be accomplished through Satyagraha. Gandhi's successful campaign to eject a major colonial power from his country without resorting to violence is a monument to what human beings can achieve peacefully. Organizing massive strikes and marches, and refusing to obey discriminatory laws while not resisting arrest or even providing a defense against attacks by police and soldiers, Gandhi's non-violent methods of confrontation pointed a way to fight powerful foes without moral compromise. It was through his philosophies and campaigns of civil disobedience that Gandhi laid the blueprint for peaceful protests everywhere. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who is perhaps Gandhi's most famous convert, used his methods during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, broadly applying them in the fight against the oppression of blacks in America.
@coffeechat (1961)
• New Zealand
4 Feb 07
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand has been a beacon for all freedom loving people the world over. In my view, when he began his path of Satyagraha in South Africa the world began to take notice. Gandhi has been an inspiration for: Fidel Castro, John F Kennedy Jr, Martin Luther King, Juan Peron, Pierre Trudeau, Nelson Mandela, Ninoy Aquino Jr., Corazon Aquino among so many others. Wherever there has been peaceful struggle against tyranny of any form or fashion, Gandhi's inspiration has prevented blood shed the world over. His Experiments with Truth is epochal in the account of a man who struggled and won over such great hurdles - first in himself as a man, father, friend, lawyer and then as a leader of the Indian people. I have profound admiration for Mr. Gandhi and his ideals. Gandhi will never be forgotten by mankind, for as long as the written word exists and humans have the ability to introspect. Gandhi's spirit will revisit every situation of political and economic tyranny empowering the weak and the oppressed with the philosopy and tools to resist - and overcome. That is my view. I suppose petty minds will find something to mock at in greatness!